Just wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question - are the MP4 files generated by Premiere Elements 3 or 4 encoded using the CABAC algorithm or the CAVLC one? Also, what exactly is the difference between choosing the standard MP4 setting vs. the iPod one - are they both encoded using the same algorithm? Just wondering what the differences are between these 2 settings.

I am wanting to produce files that are playable on the Apple TV and it seems that device does not support CABAC encoded files. So any advice on this would be appreciated.

Yes, the files do need to be encoded using the Main profile for CABAC to be used. But since the Apple TV uses the Main profile, and videos encoded with that profile tend to look better, I really want to encode using it. I used the software tool you suggested and discovered that MP4 files made with Elements 4 using the Main profile and the standard stream setting use CABAC, while those made with the iPod setting do not. Thank you very much for your help.

I have been trying to get the best mp4 settings for apple tv also and found the mp4 encoding in premiere elements 4 to not be that great. It could be that there are some setting i haven't fully optimized (don't understand every option), but i tried a lot of things.

What I recently found is that if I burn my video to a dvd in PE and then rip it back to the computer using handbrake with the apple tv setting i actually get better results. The picture is a touch soft, but no more so than when exporting directly to MP4, and the colors seem to hold up better. Also, I have some text/images in some videos and the text is much crisper when doing it this way.